WATER: Fighting on Two Fronts

The Austin Water Utility attacks water losses in the street and in the home, protecting its supplies for the long term and saving on energy today.

Austin is one of the fastest growing cities not only in Texas but in the nation. It also lies in a semi-arid region that experiences hot summers and has water right issues.

“In the long run, every gallon we save helps us meet growth demands and our strategic goals,” says Greg Meszaros, Director of the Austin Water Utility. The utility serves a population of 800,000 with about 200,000 connections, but both numbers are rising rapidly. That lends urgency to planning efforts.

In some ways, Austin’s water outlook is good. The city has a contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority that allows the use of up to 325,000 acre-feet of Colorado River surface water per year. Utility staff believes the supply secure for at least 40 years, as current usage is just 158,000 acre-feet per year.

But there are still compelling reasons to get serious about water conservation. For one thing, annual payments to the LCRA don’t kick in until annual water usage reaches 201,000 acre-feet per year, so there is a big financial incentive to put off that level of use as long as possible.

And, of course, the resource is ultimately finite: the less Austin uses, the more river is left for plants, fish and wildlife. Energy conservation is also a factor: the Austin Water Utility accounts for nearly 60 percent of electricity used by city departments, and about 2 percent of all power consumed in Austin. So saving water will also reduce greenhouse emissions and use of non-renewable resources.

In 2006, the city council set a specific goal of reducing peak daily use by 1 percent annually. The city has reached that goal each year so far. Since residences account for 58 percent of peak summer usage, versus 29 percent for commercial entities, focusing on residential use makes sense.

To reduce residential water consumption, Austin is pushing itself to do better on two fronts: In the street and in the home. The staff views both as equally important. Strategies include line replacement, contracted leak detection, appliance rebates, progressive public outreach, and even a jingle from one of Austin’s musical elite.

More than required

“The Texas Water Development Board requires cities to perform a water audit every five years, and it’s just like a financial report,” explains Meszaros. “We have to know how much water is coming into our system and from where, and where it’s going.”

But rather than perform the audit every five years, Austin does it annually. This rigorous yearly examination of the city’s water usage identifies opportunities to reduce non-revenue water, finds areas that could benefit from proactive leak detection, improves response time to leaks, and helps to refine long-term strategic planning by, for example, identifying the best areas in which to replace old pipe.

For leak detection, Austin contracts with private companies. “We hire companies to look at a quarter to a third of our system annually, looking for subsurface leaks and inspecting hydrants," says Meszaros. Finding hydrant leaks can be especially rewarding: “Sometimes a simple reseating will stop minor leaks permanently.”

The particular third of the system inspected annually is determined by the utility's Water Conservation Division. Director Sonja Stefaniw says the determination is made by analyzing previous leak incidents and considering the age of the pipe.

Austin also contracts separately for inspection of very large lines, 48-inches and up. “That’s partially to minimize risk,” explains Meszaros. “We call that class of water main ‘steel cylinders,’ and they are high-pressure lines. If the prestressed wire that reinforces them corrodes, the failure can be catastrophic.”

Austin maintains and operates 3,600 miles of line for drinking water. Newer line is ductile iron or HDPE, but there is still about 900 miles of older cast iron pipe in the system, and Meszaros hopes to replace all of it. “Right now, we’re replacing five to seven miles of ­cast iron annually with HDPE, but we’re increasing that to 15 to 25 miles annually,” he says.

Making a difference at home

Meanwhile, Stefaniw concentrates on the customer side of the meter. “I’ve been here 14 months, and I came in with a strong business background,” she says. “After analyzing the effectiveness of the marketing program, which was focused on printed products and newspapers, I wanted to implement a more updated campaign.”

Like many cities, Austin is realizing that changing consumer behavior with a public outreach campaign is both necessary and difficult, and a challenge worth attacking with substantial resources. Stefaniw began with a change in both media and methods.

That meant a move to outlets that residents are more likely to come across in their daily routine, such as radio, TV, pump toppers, billboards and bus wraps. She also orchestrated a switch from passive media, such as newspapers, to communication methods that encourage interaction, such as taking a booth to festivals and church events, and finding ways to talk face to face, such as at neighborhood events.

This approach is potentially more rewarding, but requires more skill, Stefaniw observes. Staff members need to get “eye to eye, and shake hands,” in her phrase. “We recently hired a young lady, Geneva Guerrero, who’s become a wonderful asset,” says Stefaniw. “She’s primarily an instructor, and she’s been training city staff, citizens in the community, and school children. There’s quite a bit for her to do!”

Guerrero was able to fill her calendar after just a few months on the job, and by the middle of 2009 she had organized more than 40 community outreach events.

On the air

TV and radio campaigns have also been fine-tuned. For TV, Stefaniw says, “I wanted the community to pay attention to the drought we’re in.” To do this, she worked with an advertising agency, and gave them a simple idea to work with.

“I wanted to show little kids playing in water,” she says, “and then I wanted to take the water away. Along with that, I wanted our jingle playing in the background, and lots of Austin visuals.” The agency created a 30-second spot featuring children playing in a local lake, and then trying to play in the lake’s absence.

“It was a pretty commercial, and our most successful campaign ever, in terms of free media response,” says Stefaniw. The ad also generated record numbers of citizen calls, and other area agencies, including the Lower Colorado River Authority and City of Cedar Park, were able to contribute funds and piggyback on its success.

Along with media campaigns, Austin has had several programs in place over the years that subsidize residents and make it easy for them to upgrade toilets and other appliances to more efficient versions, and get free, low-flow shower-heads and faucets.

The utility also encourages rainwater harvesting, offering discounted rain barrels and rebates of up to $500 on large rainwater harvesting systems. Yet another rebate program encourages the use of on-demand hot water systems that recirculate hot water so that cold water isn’t wasted at the tap or showerhead while waiting for hot water to flow.

The city's educational material tends to focus on consumer bottom lines, translating water savings into how much people will save after making changes.

Inspect and enforce

Of course, education alone is not enough. It’s tempting to consider the media campaigns as the “carrot” and inspection and enforcement as the “stick,” but in fact the inspection campaign is friendly, and the utility uses it as a tool for educating and gently changing behavior.

“I have several teams of inspectors, and the largest is the irrigation team,” Stefaniw says. Irrigation audits are offered free, and the team averages three per day per team member in summer. The biggest savings come when the team identifies bad watering schedules — such as watering during the day instead of overnight. They also inspect for over spray and other water wasters.

There is a code enforcement arm. Businesses and (as of 2008) residences can be cited for violations like watering on non-designated days. Many citations originate as tips from citizens. “We have a lot of commuters helping us out,” says Stefaniw, “They see a violation on their way to work, or wastage like a broken sprinkler or a parking lot being sprayed, and they’ll call and report it.”

Austin has a 311 line for such calls, and last year Stefaniw’s division started a cooperative venture with other city departments to keep the line manned with a live operator around the clock. Community response has been excellent.

Two full-time staff members respond to water use violations. This number may increase as the code changes: New regulations being added include design standards for irrigation systems, efficiency requirements for cooling towers, a ban on in-sink garbage grinders, and a maximum flush volume for urinals. Tighter watering restrictions, based on time of day, time of year, and odd or even addresses, are also being implemented.

By pursuing a multi-pronged approach to water conservation, Austin expects eventually to save up to 32 mgd, while reducing energy use substantially and improving the environment. In addition, conserving water will save the city money, as payments to the LCRA are staved off.

Given the substantial water rights Austin controls, the city could take water conservation less seriously. But by being proactive and working to reduce water use before it becomes an emergency, Austin Water Utility officials are proving to be farsighted managers.



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